kjackson

Offers?

I've got four spools of Nanofil: 8-pound green, 150 yards 14-pound green, 300 yards 12-pound white, 300 yards 12-pound white, 300 yards, opened, but unused (I'm pretty sure)... Only the last spool was opened, used for a photo prop and returned to package. I may have spooled a reel with it, though, so it should show as a partial spool; although, it appears to be very close to full. Selling as a lot only. $40 TYD

Was back at the cabin yesterday, and all the mud has moved out. Clarity was good--to the point I could see the bottom in more than a foot... There was a lot of algae globs floating around, though, and some boats running up the main channel hunting for fish.

The Cole Camp Creek arm was pretty muddy last year and didn't start clearing until winter. Was at our place last weekend, and it was Mississippi muddy, the muddiest I've seen it. With all the boat traffic, the mud/silt gets stirred up pretty regularly in our section.

I've been rooting through some of the old tying posts and ran across some patterns I want to try. I'll be fishing for temperate bass with the bug rod, so what hook size do I need? Also, I found a SBS for the Stouffer Shuttlecock...http://www.themidwest-drift.com/stouffers-shuttlecock That looks like a good one to tie. I still have a bunch of steelhead/searun/salmon flies in boxes, and some of those will undoubtedly come into play. Right now, though, I need something to keep me busy in the evenings. thx.

It depends upon the state, but generally, the answer is "yes." Missouri is the first state I've lived in where being older than dirt (and a resident) means you don't need a license.

Here's a different take on the Whopper Plopper. John Crews did something similar to a Spro frog. Here's a video on Booyah's version. I may have to buy a couple... https://youtu.be/ewL42imV5Ys.

Not to pick nits, but the term mooching as used in salmon fishing is a totally different type of fishing. It involves bait (usually a cut herring) fished close to the bottom where 60 feet is shallow. I wouldn't add this, but it's what I grew up doing in the PNW. It also is a term used by old-school fly fishermen in the Pacific Northwest and B.C. for slowly drifting with a fly on a sinking line... As for 10-pound smallies, a friend also saw what he claimed was one over 10. He worked for Luhr Jensen before it was sold to Rapala. While he mainly fished for trout in mountain lakes in the Cascades, he also fished for anything that would bite. Along that stretch of the lower Columbia near Hood River, Oregon, are a number of backwater areas that are connected to the river by culverts and small channels. He said that he was fishing in one such on the Washington side when he spotted the big female on a bed but couldn't get her to bite. He tried several times, as I recall, but with no joy. He said that he went back to the same bedding area several years in a row and saw the same big fish in that area, but again, she wouldn't hit. He'd caught enough smallies to be able to guess how big she was...

Since I'm in work-avoidance mode, I'll add a story here. Probably 20 years ago, I was on a spring trip with a local guy, fishing the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. This section is the last free-flowing stretch of the middle Columbia and passes through the Hanford Nuclear Reservation--which means it's closed for a major portion of the year. My friend/guide took us to a slough off the main channel, and we started catching bass right away. It was absolutely the best smallmouth fishing I've ever had, and that includes Erie, Mille Lacs and some of the shield lakes. The smallies we were catching were a measured 18- to 20-inches long, and it was a rare cast that didn't result in a fish. It was that good. It's difficult to say this, but there were so many fish in that slough, and they were so hungry that we kinda got bored. Throw out a Kalin's three-inch or five-inch grub on a leadhead, and you'd land a fish. If one dropped it, there was a good chance another would hit it on the way back to the boat. There was no challenge at all. So we decided to move out of the slough and see if we could find fish elsewhere. At the mouth of the slough we stopped to give it a try. The area was full of boulders--big, basalt rocks that were broken bits of the old lava flows. I didn't get a bite on the grub, so I picked up a crankbait rod with a Wiggle Wart and cast past a pair of large rocks, and as the bait worked past the gap between them, two fish started to follow. Here I'll say that the water in that stretch was/is fairly clear most of the time, and visibility was six feet or so. One of the fish was a dink, and the other dwarfed it, and by "dwarfed", I mean the larger fish was at least six inches longer and perhaps three times the mass. Of course, the dink dashed to the Wart and inhaled it. That fish measured 20 inches. Sooooooo-- I'm claiming I've seen a 10-pound smallie. Granted, it was only for a few seconds, but it is a fish I will remember. Also-- we didn't find any bass in other stretches of the river and went back to that slough to end the day.

Based on experience during the last shutdown, I'd say yes.

If I were going to look for a lake place again, I would probably head to the Warsaw realtors and study the upper end. It's what we ended up doing, and if you're a bit patient, then you can find what you're looking for or something close to it. We were lucky and found a place that is 20 minutes or so from Warsaw but is still somewhat remote. We've only seven other neighbors on our road and nothing across the lake from us. The downside is that we're 20 minutes from Warsaw, and the last 0.7 mile of road is very interesting and something "we" have to maintain.

We bought a place on the upper end this past August, and it was a good move. We're off the main channel over two miles and don't have the crazy boater stuff except a bit on weekends. During the week, it's almost like we're alone. I love it. I've yet to launch the big boat to do much exploring as the kayak fishing has been fair, and fishing off our dock has been very good. Add to that the usual fix-it mania that goes along with a new place, and I've not spent as much time on the water as I thought. However, crappie and catfish are abundant, bass not so much, and the promised white bass run didn't materialize this fall. Only duck hunting has been disappointing. I also have a good realtor if you're looking at the upper end. PM me, and I'll get you connected. Our realtor was a big help and became a friend after the deal closed.

I realize there is a fly forum, but this site seems to get more action, so...with a 20-degree temperature drop in the last 45 minutes, I'm thinking it's well past time to drag out the fly-tying gear. I want to re-start my fly fishing and fly tying after a long hiatus. I've done some web browsing but down't really have a good idea of the best flies and sizes for whites. I've got a bunch of small Clousers from my days of fishing for searun cutthroat, but I'm wondering if I should go bigger. Also-- does it matter to the fish about eye placement on a Clouser? Forward position provides a jigging motion on retrieve, and by moving the eyes toward the bend you get more of a level glide. So...my questions: What are the best sizes? What colors besides white and chartreuse should I have in the box? What other patterns besides Clousers? Thanks.

Few things are better than a yellow lab pup... Thanks for the ideas and info; now I have to sort through the boxes to find the materials. I'll be adding the Miyawaki Beach Popper to the mix as I already have a few and a few minimalist Gurglers as well as some other foam-backed floating efforts. We didn't get our lake place until August, so I don't have a good idea of what spring will bring or of what I can expect for the water color in our creek. So far, it's been fairly stained with visibility less than a foot most of the time. I hope the spring run is better than last fall's supposed-to-be-great run that didn't materialize from what I saw.

Fire away! Considering your stringer shots of the White Pride Parade got me distracted from the bluegill-popper thoughts I've been having, I could use more ideas. Looking at the weather over the next week, I'm thinking I might as well limber up the vise.

I'm now at the point of turning down free ball caps or giving them away. I'm looking for a decent boonie hat for this summer. I had six or so spots frozen on my last dermatologist's appointment last month, one of which was on the rim of an ear. I had a divot taken out of the rim of the other ear a few years back with the MOAS procedure. That's where the surgeon cuts out what he or she thinks is the worst of it. Then he scrapes the tissue thats left and takes it into the lab for a look to see if any cancer cells are left. In my case, it took three scraping sessions to get rid of the cancer over the course of three hours. It does sound worse than it was, but it costs about as much as a new Ultrex...

Most of the time, I rely on half-finger gloves. The best I've found so far are knitted from buffalo down (that's what the company calls it). However, even then, any exposed skin gets cold, even when wet. Slowbait's idea of surgical gloves isn't a bad one--it reminds me of what my dad and I did when hunting. We wore rubber gloves under jersey gloves and stayed warm. Having said that, I will be trying something that was sent to me to try. They are black surgical-type gloves from Fishfighter.com. They are a bit thicker than the typical surgical gloves I've tried before and slightly textured. I'm thinking wearing those under the buffalo half-fingers and that might be the answer. Of course, i'll be wearing heavier mitts when running the boat.

I hope the fire continues after the cold snap commences. I won't be able to fish until then...which seems to be my usual situation. I always "shoulda been here last week".

I'm thinking I better bring my boat back to town... my part of LOZ hasn't been that productive.

Haven't fished Beaver since we moved north, and I do miss fishing in clear water. Truman and LOZ aren't the same. Your post brought back some pleasant memories. Thought this might be worth a quick note-- the largest two smallies I hooked in Beaver came out of Honey Creek. I found others there as well...never did much in Indian. Thinking on it, I just realized that most of the smallmouth I caught in Beaver came from the east side of the lake...and that's weird.

Sooo-- what is the best brush to use in planting brush piles? I'm thinking of adding a few in the immediate area of our dock as well as rebuilding the one in the well. I've never done it before and figure that I might as well try. Any other suggestions about method, depth and location are appreciated. thx

Northland Tackle recently posted a shot video on its Facebook page (or at least, I saw it on my FB page when it was posted) that shows how colors change as they go down in depth. I found it interesting, to say the least. Of course, the kicker is that the way humans perceive color may well be different from the way fish do. Also, it comes back to the question of whether or not the fish really give a rip about a line leading to something they want to eat. I think it has more to do with how the line controls the movement of the bait/lure than the color. Stiffen line may well dampen the movement of a bait or lure than a softer, more flexible line. Dunno, y'know.

Fishing has been slow for me on the upper end, but then I've been kayaking it more than with the bigger boat. Even the dock crappie are not responding. We've had pelicans since the first of October and gulls showed up last week. Saw a few ducks this morning, and geese were landing last night. May trailer the boat to Truman to see if I can find whites by the dam. The creek we're in doesn't seem to be doing much--just a fish here and there.

I've been doing fairly well off our dock with 1/64 ounce feather jig in several different colors, BUT the jig must have a Crappie Nibble on it. Having said that, while there are usually a few crappies under the dock, there are days when it's really good followed by not-so-good fishing. Haven't been chasing anything out of the kayak in a while, but when that will change Wednesday when we're back at the lake for a couple of nights. There have been quite a few boats heading up the creek, so I'm thinking that the whites are moving upstream. I'll have to test that...

If you don't want to tie snelled, two-hook rigs, you can follow RPS's advice and use a single, longer hook. In the mid-80s, Lindy sold a spinner called the Fuzz-E-Spin that used a lozenge-shaped float covered with a fuzz (to hold scent) and a single Tru-Turn hook. The hook was long-shanked. You ran the nose of the crawler onto the point of the hook and kept shoving the worm up the shank, leaving an inch or two hanging. It worked very well, and I caught a ton of walleyes on that set up. The only problem is that it takes a bit longer to bait than a two-hook rig. I haven't been to Eberhart's in a while, and while there wasn't looking at walleye gear, so I'm not sure what they carry. Will have to check it out when we get back from the lake. That is a nice 'eye and I'm glad to see it from Truman. When we moved to the area, my son gave me an old "fishing in Missouri" guide book. In it, under the Truman Lake chapter, it said that a 19-pound walleye was caught...it's nice to see that some of the same genes may still be around.